The Local Rag Brunswick Valley Historical Society Inc. NEWSLETTER
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Brunswick Valley Historical Society Inc. 17 Myokum Street MULLUMBIMBY 2482 NEWSLETTER OPEN: TUESDAYS &FRIDAYS 10 AM – 12 PM September2020 MARKET DAYS (3RD SATURDAY OF THE MONTH) 9 AM-1 PM The Local Rag ‘Mullumbimby’ was the word on everyone’s lips as Her Majesty the Cow led the moribund place out of the 1890s Depression, enriching local paddocks and pockets with her golden pats. By the early 1900s Mullum was a boom town, prompting the Australian Town and Country Journal to note on 25Oct1905 that The growth of Mullumbimby… has been amazingly rapid, and it seems almost incredible as one stands in the centre of this compact town containing a population of 550 souls, that only a few years ago there existed dense scrub, where now are banks, stores, hotels, and representatives of nearly every class of profession and trade… except journalism. But amongst the many southerners making the pilgrimage north to partake of the cow’s bountiful blessings was Anglican Joseph Henry Plowright (1859 Bombala – 1929 Newcastle) who had established the ‘Delegate Argus and Border Post’ in 1895 after completing his apprenticeship at the ‘Bombala Herald’ and ‘Bombala Times’, the latter founded by Robert Burgess, father of Alfred of the ‘Byron Bay Record’. Plowright launched his 3d weekly, ‘The Mullumbimby Star and Brunswick Banner’, on 4Nov1905, making it the 11th newspaper servicing the Richmond-Tweed region. He initially operated from an office in Burringbar Street until finding a new home in Stuart Street, Looking North along Stuart ~1907. Mullum Star office under bullnosing beyond the stables behind the ES&A Bank on the left. ES&A Bank housed in two-storey Nelson Building at intersection with Burringbar, destroyed by fire 2Jun1908. corner of Stuart and Burringbar. Anglican Alfred Christopher Burgess (1871 Singleton – 1938 Bega), who had introduced his 3d Byron weekly in Sep1902, welcomed the new competition like the arrival of the plague, compounded by the appearance of Anglican Frank Walter Vincent's four-page ‘Bangalow Herald and Newrybar Advertiser’ in Apr1907, making 13 newspapers now servicing the region (after Frank’s brother, Ernest Lloyd Vincent, had come from Uralla to launch the ‘Kyogle Examiner’ in Nov1906). All of which persuaded the ‘Northern Star’, the leading regional rag currently publishing 3 editions per week at 3d a copy, to become a Daily wef 1Jul1907 and drop its price to an extraordinary 1d. But this didn’t deter Episcopalians D.M. Campbell & Son of the ‘Braidwood Express’ from carting their plant to Alstonville to launch the ‘Alstonville and Rous Record’ in Feb1908, now making 15 newspapers ministering to the sectarian souls of Cowland. [The 14th was the Catholic ‘North Coast Daily News’ introduced to Lismore May1907. (Refresh your memory in the story of J.B. Kelly of Tyagarah at https://www.mullumbimbymuseum.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/81.-Newsletter-February-2019.pdf)]. Frank Vincent, late of the ‘Bundarra and Tingha Advocate’, only lasted 2mths, selling out to Methodist George Nicklin of the ‘Tweed Herald and Brunswick Chronicle’ in Jun1907 to acquire the ‘Boggabri Examiner’ via a stint at the family’s ‘Uralla Times’. Nicklin, who appointed local ex-school teacher Lemuel Chester Snow as manager/editor, lasted a little over 15mths, offloading to Presbyterian David Millar of the ‘Deniliquin Chronicle’ in Nov1908 and consolidating back at Murbah, where he persevered until Jan1910, finally surrendering to his competitor of the last 17yrs, ‘The Tweed Times & Brunswick Advocate’, then moving off to Queensland to grow bananas (and continue his advocacy of ‘White Australia’ through the bulletin he baptised ‘Nicko’s’). Millar (1869 Hamilton, Vic – 1930 Toogoolawah, Qld) sold out to Kenna & Munroe in Jan1914 and established the ‘Inverell Herald’ (making three newspapers now servicing Inverell). Francis Kenna (1865 Maryborough – 1932 Brisbane), Labor MLA for Bowen 1902-09, sold out to partner Munroe in May1917 and went 1 off to acquire the ‘Logan and Albert Bulletin’ at Southport. James Ellis Munroe, late of Sydney’s ‘Evening Telegraph’, was wiped out in the fire of 27Apr1920 and decided life as a shopkeeper at Murbah was a better career move (after a short stint as the Bangalow district’s ‘Northern Star’ representative). The Herald then went into hibernation until resurrected in Feb1922 by press photographer Robert James Herbert Belbin of Brisbane (and late of the Tweed Daily’s ‘Literary Staff’ 1918-19). He’d had enough by Mar1925 and was relieved by local resident Thomas Sample Laidley who was left homeless by the fire of 9Jan1931. Two months later he was farewelled to Queensland, leaving the Herald to enjoy a prolonged siesta. (For further history see the ‘Bangalow Herald’ issues of June and July 2020 at https://issuu.com/bangalowherald) Burgess of the Bay promised that his 8 page foolscap weekly will be liberal in the widest acceptance of the term…, but had little news and for a long period relied on Murbah and Lismore advertisers to stay solvent, suggesting he had a day job (although Between them, he and his sister Eveline Maud, edited the paper, did the jobbing, kept the books and printed the “Record”…, implying a dedicated couple). Competition arrived in the form of Kenna & Munroe’s ‘Byron Bay Gazette’ in May1913, with Munroe (1890 Nymagee – 1965 Burwood) producing the paper from the Bangalow plant as the partnership’s ‘chief monoline operator’. He was sole proprietor in Apr1920 when the Gazette disappeared from the newsstands along with the ‘Bangalow Herald’, leaving Byron to Burgess. Burgess sold the masthead, but not the office and plant in Shirley Lane, to Henry Barron Eastaughffe and Mrs Rebecca McNeill of Lismore in Apr1924 and retired to the family property, ‘Haxstead’, at Central Tilba, where Alfred was described as ‘a fine gentlemanly man’ in his 1938 obituary. After his Record office and plant were destroyed by the fire of 25Jan1925 news of the Bay’s goings-on was mainly at the whim of the Northern Star’s resident correspondent. Mrs McNeill opened the Byron Café in Lismore in Nov1924, but sold the place 12mths later, seemingly heavily in debt. Also in debt was Catholic Eastaughffe who launched the Lismore Leader, a double demy weekly…, in partnership with Presbyterian Theodore Baldwin Osborne, in Feb1926. The Northern Star laughed and shortly afterwards Henry, the son of Fred of the Dalby Herald, escaped to Brisbane, where he died 1944 aged 72. Over at Mullum Plowright also had been struggling to earn a quid and was relieved to accept an offer from Presbyterian Norman James MacKinnon of Murbah in Jan1908, then moving on to establish The Wyong Record. Over the following years he owned, edited or worked at the Murrurundi Times, Merriwa and Cassillis Standard, Nyngan Observer and a stint in Braidwood before entering the afterlife from Newcastle. Norm (1872 Taree – 1949 Southport), the son of Angus William Mackinnon and Annie Geddes Shearer, and the nephew of Donald and William Geddes Shearer of Myocum, had started in the business as an apprentice with Methodist W.R. Baker's Maclean Advocate. In 1888 he accompanied Baker to Murbah to launch the Tweed Times and Brunswick Advocate then wandered off to South Africa to shoot bores with Baker's son William. Around 1903 he returned to South Africa and joined the Transvaal Leader, where he met Scotsman George Cameron who accompanied him back to Australia in 1907, subsequently becoming his printing foreman. By mid1909 Norm was also in trouble and happy to offload to Anglican Henry Josiah Holt (1854 Orange – 1916 Mullumbimby), then moving onto prominence at Pomona as proprietor of the Noosa Advocate and a director of Queensland Country Press. Henry, the brother-in-law of Frank James of Myocum, did his compositor apprenticeship with the Grafton-based Clarence and Richmond Examiner prior to becoming proprietor of Baker's Maclean Advocate. He stuck with the Mullumbimby Star until 1913, selling out to the Star’s earlier compositor, George Cameron, and retiring in Mullum, where he died in 1916 after a stint as an auctioneer, commission agent, Town Clerk and secretary of the Progress Association. He had moved the office back to Burringbar Street, on the northern side of the Nelson Building, in 1910 and also updated the printing technology, the old machinery sold to the Byron Bay Record. Transitional editor was Catholic Edwin Charles (Charlie) Uptin (1886 Rylston – 1922 Mullum) who seems to have remained in the job until early 1914. He was also Mullum Correspondent for the Presbyterian-flavoured Northern Star. The Camerons brought some stability in ownership, first through Anglican Scotsman George (1878 Blairgowrie, Perthshire – 1920 Mullum), followed by his wife Muriel, nee Kilgour (1884 Cairns – 1976 Sydney). She was working in the ‘Model Store’ on the corner of Burringbar and Dalley when she caught George’s eye, their union blessed in Mullum’s Anglican Church Aug1909. The store’s owner, Presbyterian Scotsman Donald McAndrew Ross, brother-in-law of Mullum’s Presbyterian and Labor-leaning Mayor Hollingworth, gave the bride away. Donald was Mayor of Lismore and a leading member of the New Guard in Apr1931 when he initiated the sacking of Labor Premier Lang, an act strongly supported by Muriel’s Star. Her bridesmaid and fellow Ross employee was Miss Eleanor Cameron (1876 Sydney – 1950 Paddington), daughter of Scotsman Angus MLA. She went on to become an organizer with the Liberal and Reform League, her various exploits published in the Mullum Star over the ensuing years. George was a printer and compositor of Falkirk in 1901 when he decided to emigrate, presumably to South Africa for a 2 couple of years before turning up in Mullum, perhaps with an interlude in Queensland. But in Sep1911 he took a promotion to the Tweed Herald at Murbah, only to return in Jul1913 to claim ownership of the Mullum Star.